Scranton mobster cops plea

Saturday

Mar 29, 2008 at 12:26 AM

SCRANTON — The reputed boss of a northeastern Pennsylvania crime family pleaded guilty Friday to reduced charges of witness tampering and conspiracy to launder money — a possible sign that he has agreed to testify in the perjury case against the owner of Mount Airy Casino Resort.

MICHAEL RUBINKAM

SCRANTON — The reputed boss of a northeastern Pennsylvania crime family pleaded guilty Friday to reduced charges of witness tampering and conspiracy to launder money — a possible sign that he has agreed to testify in the perjury case against the owner of Mount Airy Casino Resort.

William D'Elia, 62, who has long been tied to the Bufalino crime family, was charged in 2006 with laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug proceeds and trying to have a co-conspirator in the case killed.

D'Elia's attorney, James Swetz, refused to say Friday whether D'Elia has received a deal in exchange for his guilty plea, or whether he has agreed to testify against Mount Airy owner Louis DeNaples at trial.

D'Elia, of Hughestown, had been facing 18 counts, including solicitation of murder, but pleaded guilty to only two. Documents in his case were sealed earlier this week.

DeNaples, 67, was charged in January with lying to Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board agents about the extent of his relationships with D'Elia, the late reputed mob boss Russell Bufalino and two men at the center of a federal probe into corruption involving Philadelphia city officials.

DeNaples has been stripped of his casino license pending the outcome of the criminal case, and his $412 million casino in Swiftwater, which opened last fall, is being run by a state-appointed trustee.

D'Elia already appeared before the Dauphin County grand jury that recommended perjury charges against DeNaples. In July, he told the grand jury that his relationship with DeNaples, a wealthy northeastern Pennsylvania businessman, was so strong that DeNaples gave him his dead father's rosary beads.

DeNaples' spokesman, Kevin Feeley, on Friday accused prosecutors of giving D'Elia a sweetheart deal in exchange for his testimony against DeNaples.

"It's clear to us that he's getting a deal to cooperate because he's the foundation of their case," Feeley said. "It is stunning that the government would agree to give a deal to a guy who allegedly tried to murder a witness."

Feeley also called D'Elia a liar.

"It's clear he's willing to say anything if it helps him get a deal," Feeley said.

U.S. Attorney Martin Carlson declined to respond to Feeley's accusations Friday, issuing a statement that thanked state and federal law enforcement officials but said little about D'Elia's plea.

D'Elia, whom authorities once called a "major player" in organized crime, faces up to 30 years in prison and a $750,000 fine when he is sentenced in June.

He said little in court Friday, answering "yes, your honor" to a series of questions from the judge. Speaking in a raspy voice, he said his health was "50/50."

Though he spent more than 20 years under law-enforcement surveillance, D'Elia was never charged with a crime until May 2006, when prosecutors accused him of laundering drug proceeds through the creation of bogus companies, loans and consulting agreements that made the money appear legitimately earned.

Five months later, prosecutors charged him with trying to arrange the murder of a co-conspirator, Frank Pavlico III, after D'Elia found out that Pavlico was cooperating with the government.

Pavlico had worn a wire and recorded conversations with D'Elia. He pleaded guilty to money laundering and was sentenced in January to 10 months in federal prison.